Her true identity
by Zantetsuken Reverse
Summary: Who is Ultimecia? Someone you all know and love (hint: It's not Rinoa). This is her story, and how she became Ultimecia. Like they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions...


This was actually conceived very early on. How early? About the time of my first fic. This was just begging to be written…

This is from the POV of Ultimecia from the present. I'm sorry if I get her wrong, and I have nothing against her. The idea just popped into my head, and it was very plausible. At least, the identity, not what actually happens. That was ad-libbed.

Her True Identity

I remember the day we saved the world from Ultimecia. All of us were filled with joy. Squall and the others had won! With Ultimecia gone, and Rinoa as the sole Sorceress, there were no more reasons to start any more wars. Until…

Galbadia declared war on Balamb Garden. They never knew about Ultimecia's power to possess Sorceresses. Magic had been used to cloud their judgment, but they regained their memories of the killing of Vinzer Deling not long after our victory. In their eyes, Matron was the real killer of their President, and we were hiding her. Of course, Squall and Uncle Cid had tried to negotiate with them, but the new President was dead set. She wanted us to surrender Matron for war crimes.

Time and time again, Uncle Cid explained the existence of Ultimecia, but she thought he was lying to protect his wife. She thought that we made her up. I couldn't blame her; it was quite a far-fetched tale. But the consequences…

After they defeated Ultimecia in the future, Squall proposed to Rinoa. Tradition demanded that they receive their parent's blessing, so Rinoa went off to reunite with her father.

Vinzer Deling's murder created a pathological hatred of Sorceresses in Galbadia. Some groups, like Timber, did not accept that all Sorceresses were evil, but the rest of Galbadia banded together in a witch hunt. After Matron, Rinoa was next on the hit list. I couldn't stand the idea of having anyone, much less my little brother's fiancé, die, so I tried to warn her before she went to Deling City. But as soon as she entered the city, an extremist assassin shot a bullet made from the same material used to create Odine's bangle- it was completely magicproof. Tradition degreed that she travel alone, so Squall wasn't there to help her. Even if she couldn't die until she passed on her powers, the bullet fractured her spine, leaving her in a coma. She couldn't die because she had to pass on her powers, but she could not pass on her powers because of her coma. It was the perfect situation for the Galbadians. The last Sorceress was gone.

Squall was heartbroken. The silver ring engraved with Griever was polished every night, as a symbol of his devotion and sorrow. Uncle Cid no longer had any support from him, and Garden descended into war with Galbadia once more. The White SeeD aided us in our quest to protect Matron, but Eshtar's politicians were unwilling to protect Sorceresses after Adel. The only ones who supported us in Eshtar… were all countered by the politicians.

After a long and bloody battle, we emerged victorious. But the costs…

Zell was dead. Seifer, our commander in place of Squall, placed too much faith in him guarding the main entrance with only a few others. Those who did not know him said he died a hero's death, but we knew better. It was a death that should not have happened…

After the battle, we signed a peace treaty. They were to stop attacking, if we would promise to never attack them again during any SeeD mission. We agreed. Matron said that the only reason why SeeD existed was to prevent the Time Compression, so their role had been fulfilled. There was no reason to attack Galbadia now. But then…

After the meeting, I overheard a man brag about Zell. I confronted him, but he said that I could not attack him without causing an international incident. With Irvine standing right next to me, I couldn't break the peace they tried so hard for… I retreated to my room, crying.

At that moment, the world around me changed. A high-pitched sound whistled through the air. I recognized it as my powers, but the objects around me were frozen, rather than me passing out. As I examined my surroundings, I realized something was off. There was an up, a down, a left, a right, a forward, and a backwards, but there were two other compass directions… it was only later that I found that I was looking in four dimensions. On impulse, I raced through one of those extra dimensions, somehow knowing exactly where I wanted to go. I took a few turns in the regular three dimensions, and I emerged in a scene from Zell's murderer's memory. Zell's murderer was about to throw a high-powered bomb…

Without any time passing in their world, I grabbed the bomb- something I could not do before- and threw it as hard as I could towards the killer. My task completed, I raced back to where I came from. Time began to trickle once more.

I heard a knock on my door. Scarcely daring to believe it, I opened it. It was Zell.

Crying, I flung myself upon him. He was alive.

"Whoa," I remembered him say. "I haven't seen you like this since Irvine died…"

I choked. What did I do? I saved Zell's life back there… how could Irvine…

I raced down the corridors. Just as I predicted, the battle records were in the library. I scanned them, looking for Irvine's position…

He was positioned to snipe combatants from the main gates. In other words… right behind where the killer was. No, he's not Zell's killer, or Irvine's killer… I killed Irvine.

Abandoning all common sense, forgetting how badly the time stream would be fractured, I ran back through the fourth dimension. This time, I took the bomb that was supposed to kill Zell, and put in on the enemy ship.

This time, both of them were dead. After successfully defending, Seifer decided to switch the attackers and defenders. Zell and Irvine boarded the ship with the bomb…

I threw it off of Garden. The town of Balamb was destroyed. I took it apart. The parts were used to make a bigger explosive that wiped out Garden and Balamb. I took apart the pieces and scattered them across the world. The residents of the areas got ideas, and created more bombs. All of the major cities were wiped out…

I went back further than before, to where Seifer was. I altered his plans so that there were more people there, and Zell and Irvine were in the back… They were all wiped out by the bomb. Zell's death prevented the blast from hurting anyone else. Now, I accepted his death for the first time…

But I had meddled too much into the time stream. Now, I had to accept the reality of the deaths of the other SeeD…

No longer able to handle it, I ran to Matron and cried. I told her about everything, how I killed Irvine, then Zell, then the SeeD…

I had no idea that someone was listening. Evan was a recently-promoted SeeD, and his graduating class defended the main entrance. He also walked past Matron's room twice a day. Once I told Matron about how I killed his friends, he was furious. He went straight to Uncle Cid and asked him to kick me out. Uncle Cid was sympathetic, but he realized the consequences of having me here. Evan had a lot of friends and influence in the social ranks of Garden, and if word got out that I was responsible for killing class 2-B, they could very well rebel and join Galbadia.

Uncle Cid sent me and the White SeeD away for as long as necessary, we could return as soon as the situation stabilized.

Once we were back on the ship, I saw Sara, one of the White SeeD, cry. Her boyfriend lived in Garden, and she couldn't see him for a long time… She was doing this out of duty, I realized.

Against my common sense, I used my power one last time… I went to Deling City, back when Rinoa was killed. If I stopped Rinoa from dying, there wouldn't be a war.

What I didn't account for was the fact that the bullet was magicproof. Odine's bangle prevented its user from using Sorceress's magic, so magic could be used on her, but the bullet was different. It had a limited lifespan, but it basically put of a barrier where no magic could be used. Within its area of effect, I could only travel through time, not stop or slow it. Additionally, my magic made the event final. Rinoa took the bullet, and there was nothing I could do except feed her a Potion.

After I forced down the drink, she grabbed my arm. Energy swirled around my body…

And she was dead. She was no longer in a coma in this timeline. She was dead.

I ran back to the present, crying. As soon as I emerged, I read the newspaper immediately. Now that Rinoa was dead, the war between Garden and Galbadia was different. Squall had led the attack, but he allowed anger to cloud his judgment. We lost the battle. Galbadia allowed us to live, and they even let us keep Matron, but Garden was Galbadia's property.

In this timeline, Evan did eavesdrop on Matron and I, but instead of proposing banishment, he stirred up a rebellion. Many of the SeeD who were once our friends abandoned us. They killed Squall, and executed all who were loyal to him. We managed to escape, but it was only a matter of time before they found us. Those SeeD… They were despicable. I found my thoughts ebbing, and soon all I remembered was that I hated the SeeD. I forgot about their quest to defeat Ultimecia, as her threat was gone, and now they had no reason to exist.

If our plan worked back then, she would never have destroyed the world like that, right? So I tried to go back even further…

As I changed more and more, I forgot why I was changing everything. As I altered the world, time passed around me without ever touching me…

I liked one of the castles that formed as a result of the changes, and chose it as my base. I made it so that it would never be destroyed by my own powers, and I began to meddle with the timestream more rapidly from there.

As last, my work was at an end. The SeeD no longer had a reason to exist, so they no longer did.

Or so I thought. Not long after I completed my work, a group of young warriors arrived to my castle. They were SeeD. I didn't know how I knew, but I gave them an angry speech before attacking them. Seeing the ring around his neck, I formed Griever from his mind.

The battle raged on, finally fusing with Griever…

I was defeated. As I drew my final breaths, I saw clearly for the first time in centuries. Those SeeD… they were my siblings. I was Ultimecia. What have I done? I thought. I… did all this?

I looked at the ground. I had made the future like this. I had no choice but to go with the flow of space-time…

I took Squall to Matron's orphanage, back before we left. I let him and Matron talk for a while, before passing my powers on.

Before dying, I saw the future, without my meddling. That timeline was what kept the timestream stable, I realized. Ultimecia needed to come from somewhere, and she came from the future. The SeeD's plan destroyed the possibility of her ever existing, but they needed someone to defeat in the first place.

In other words, there was a parallel universe created. One where I meddled, and one where I didn't. In the stable one, Squall became the leader, Rinoa successfully sealed her powers, and they live long, happy lives. The one that I meddled in would never be the same. Everyone suffered because of me…

I'm sorry, Squall.

I'm sorry, Rinoa.

I'm sorry, Zell.

I'm sorry, Quistis.

I'm sorry, Irvine.

I'm sorry, Selphie.

I'm sorry, Matron.

I'm sorry, Uncle Cid.

I'm sorry, Evan.

I'm sorry, everyone I killed.

Most of all, I'm sorry, Uncle Laguna.

DONE!

Basically, Ellone is Ultimecia. Don't get me wrong, I like Ellone. She's really nice. But I thought that it was most plausible for her to be Ultimecia, so…

This was actually the first fic to be published without being run over by my editor since… like, forever.

The paradox- to me, the SeeD's plan destroyed Ultimecia so she never rose again. But she must have existed for her to be killed… The answer is that she's meddled so much that she resides in a parallel universe, where she exists to be killed later.


End file.
